Sweet as Honey
by Anya Maygo
Summary: As I always say in these fanfics somewhere or other, I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! This is purely my own mutant, thrown into the mix just because I could.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hello!_**

* * *

My name is Honey Jackson.

When I was eight years old, my thirteen-year-old brother Theo accidentally showed that he was a mutant with powers. It had started with freckles all over him, and then his eyes got even bigger than normal and if he opened his eyes all the way, things _happened_.

My parents kicked him out, very effectively showing that they didn't like mutants. I'll never forget what he said when he looked over his shoulder at us, because his big green eyes were fully open during his statement: "Oh, I'll leave, all right; but I'll be back someday, and then you'll pay!"

An eye-shaped mark was forever burned into the door of our house after that. No amount of paint would cover it.

* * *

As if _that _wasn't bad enough, green plus signs appeared on the palms of my hands when I turned fifteen, and they turned hypersensitive. Oh, they weren't overly sensitive to pain; far from it, actually. _They _couldn't be cut, and if I was hurt elsewhere other than my hands, I'd heal again faster than normal.

The reason I say they were hypersensitive was because every air current that brushed against my new plus signs told me something. And if I touched the doorknob leading out of the bathroom, I could tell who had forgotten to wash their hands. _And_ if I set my hand on a wet spot on the counter, I would know what had been spilled there without even looking.

Bottom line: I couldn't turn my powers off. My solution was to cut the fingers off of a pair of gloves and wear them all the time, since I only got a signal from any one object on first contact. Then they'd shut up and I wouldn't get any more signals from them until I had to take them off and put them back on again.

Mom decided that I was just going through a fashion phase, and that I'd outgrow it. Dad doesn't see much of me. We kind of live out in the middle of nowhere, and his job is a little ways away.

…Actually, both of my parents work. I get the run of the house, and I spend my time cooking. I'm an excellent cook, and my favorite thing to do is bake desserts. Dad says it's why I was named Honey.

The reason I don't go to school like a typical teenager is because my parents are positive that the mutant thing is contagious, and that the reason Theo became one was because he went to a public school. Mom leaves me with homework in the morning, I do it, and she grades it when she comes home.

As a result, I'm quite well-educated in several subjects…and poorly-educated in socializing. I don't think I'll ever be able to hold a coherent conversation with someone my age, and _certainly_ not a _boy_!

If I _do_ end up trying to socialize…and if boys that I meet actually think I'm pretty…I think I'm going to end up cursing my parents for naming me "Honey." That's going to become the biggest flirt I ever hear, and I can't ignore it, because that's my _name_!

I'm actually not sure a boy would think I'm pretty. I've got green eyes like Theo did, though of a normal size, but that's where the resemblance ends. Where his hair was chestnut brown and kept short, mine was waist-length and…how I got my name: a deep honey-gold. And I was just…kind of plain, really, along with being about five-foot-six and always feeling short.

Little did I know that once I turned sixteen, my whole life would end up changing for the crazy.

* * *

**A/N: I don't think I'm going to be following any specific X-Men theme. The mutants will be the same, along with some of the most basic of organizations, but that's about it.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Uprooted!**_

_**Honey**_

Saturday, and both my parents were home watching the news. I was in the kitchen, fiddling around with my flash drive on my mom's laptop. I have, like, a hundred different recipes saved on my flash drive, and I'm adding more from a large book of Mom's – in fact, that was what I was doing.

Oh yeah – I wasn't wearing my gloves, either. I never wear my gloves in the kitchen, because there's just too big a chance that they'll get dirty, and I use my powers one step below openly in the kitchen anyway.

And, frankly, it was probably a good thing.

Suddenly, I heard an explosion come from the living room – and it didn't sound like the TV! I disconnected my flash drive, refastened it to the cord around my neck, and went into the living room, clutching Mom's recipe book to my chest.

What a sight greeted my eyes: the front door was blown in! My parents were on the sofa, clutching each other in terror, staring at the stranger standing in the empty doorway.

He was…definitely worth staring at, with all those eye-engraved scales visible on his arms and face. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and ragged jeans, along with some large dark shades. His short brown hair seemed familiar, though…

He gestured back behind him. His fingernails were grown into claws, going with the rest of his décor. "Get them back to the base, Colossus," he commanded.

A large metal man came around him, grabbed up both my parents – who were still too terrified to even speak – and left again, leaving me alone with this familiar stranger.

He turned and looked at me. "Well, Honey," he said, slowly taking off his shades, "long time no see." Then he looked straight at me, opening large green eyes!

My jaw dropped. I almost dropped the book. "Theo?"

His eyes narrowed, and he closed the shades so hard I suspected that those things weren't normal; they should have broken. "That name died when I left this house. Now, I am Basilisk. And it seems that my powers don't work on you," he added, looking mildly curious.

"Why, what were you trying to do?" I asked, trying to be flippant and not really succeeding in sounding anything other than panicked – I was considering running, and wondering if I'd get anywhere by trying. I mean, he commanded a metal man through the door, and what blew the door in, anyway? Surely _he_ didn't do that!

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "Actually, nothing; but you of all people know that that doesn't stop my powers."

I blinked. _That's right, girl; remember to blink._ He's_ the one naming himself after a snake, not me. …Does _he _even need to blink anymore?_ "Um…yeah. You've come back, and apparently you're going to make them pay for kicking you out elsewhere. So…if your little mission's accomplished, why are you still standing here?" _Is this even a good question?_

He flipped his shades back open and put them on again. "Quite simple, really." And he grinned. He had grown snake fangs! Or _some_thing… "In one minute, this house will look like the Big Bad Wolf stopped by for tea. I'd rather the house was empty of life when that happened. Wouldn't you?"

That didn't take me long to figure out. _What do I pretend to be now – a moving target? …Nah. Pretend to be a scared, obedient little sheep until you get out of the house. Then, while he's watching the house fall down, I run like hellhounds are chasing me._

I shrugged, trying to look calm – I bet myself I was failing – and walked past him. He followed me.

Getting outside, I saw an even stranger sight. Colossus was still there, but now he was only hanging onto my dad. Mom was being restrained, and looking repulsed, by the fattest man in history. Sitting on top of this jeep was a green-skinned…was he a teenager, or was he my age? Come to think of it, he wasn't sitting – he was hopping up and down on top of the jeep and at the height of each jump, I caught a glimpse of webbed feet. In the driver's seat of the jeep was a man in a coat, with russet hair and creepy red eyes – though how anyone's eyes could be creepy after my brother's was beyond me.

Then I blinked, and a white-haired boy wearing a green-and-white uniform was standing right in front of me! I squeaked and jumped backwards, hitting a brick wall that was Basilisk and dropping the book.

He caught it before it ever hit the floor, grabbed one of my hands, kissed the back of it, gave the book back – all in about a second – and saluted Basilisk. "There's nothing alive in the house now, Snake-eyes."

"Thank you, Quicksilver," he sounded like his patience was being strained. Didn't like the nickname but was tired of arguing about it, perhaps?

I wasn't really listening anymore, though. I was looking at my hand. I'd felt…something…else, when his bare hand had touched mine. I felt…faster. _Way _faster. Could it be…

_Well, this is the first time I'd ever been exposed to other mutants, so how was I supposed to know what would happen? Did I just _–

Suddenly, I heard a loud crash behind me – had Basilisk just trashed the house? – and my nerves, already stretched thin, snapped. I took off down the driveway as fast as I could run…which was a lot faster than normal.

Behind me, I heard Quicksilver exclaim, "What the?" and start running as well.

_Let's see…I think I'm exactly as fast as he is, which could go either way. But I have two advantages. First of all, I have a head start. It's not much of a head start, but it's a head start. And two…_ I glanced back at him. I could still see him – right now. _Hey, you're pretty fast on a clear path, Quicksilver. But how are you cross-country?_ I swerved off the path.

_TREE! TREE! TREETREETREETREETREE!_ It was insane! My lack of experience at such high speeds were more than made up for by the fact that I knew these forests like the back of my hand – the palm of my hand being a mystery. I knew every fallen log, every ditch, every stream, and my body instinctively made allowances for those things before my thoughts caught up!

About five jumps in, I heard something fall hard. It sounded like Quicksilver had stumbled in a hole that I'd stepped over. All of a sudden, I felt cocky. I called back, "You've got to watch out for those rabbit holes!"

_Now I wonder,_ I focused on running again as he jumped back up, _how far _do _these woods actually go_?

* * *

I'd carefully glanced at my watch. It only took five minutes to cover the forest I knew, and I was in unchartered territory. By then, fortunately, I'd learned to scout ahead with my eyes and find any slow-down obstacles. About a minute later, it hit me I wasn't being followed anymore.

I stopped and thought about that._ Hm…I bet Basilisk called Quicksilver back, telling him not to kill himself trying to catch me. They'll probably try to find me later. _I felt a tear slide down my face._ Of course, they might just leave somebody at my place to see if I'll come back there. _More tears followed._ I have to try to rescue my parents from whatever their fate is. But if I do, and they actually get a new house, I won't be welcome there anymore. _I sat down on a nearby stump and sobbed into my hands – my cursed hands that caused all this trouble.

After about fifteen minutes of this, I was able to talk reason to myself. "Oh, come on, girl. Your hands didn't cause Theo to disappear, or Basilisk to come and total the house. Your hands simply helped you escape. And now that your parents know about it, you're homeless. That's all that your hands caused." I stood up. "And now I've got to find a decent food source, water source…and a pair of gloves." And I walked off again, carrying the book as my one link to my old family.

* * *

Because I was refusing to run, it took me about two hours to reach the edge of the forest. And I gasped in wonder. There were such beautiful mountains in this direction, and a large expanse of blue sky!

"Maybe this life won't be too bad, after all!"

And with this happy revelation, I hugged my book tight and took off running towards my destiny.

* * *

**A/N: I give credit for Theo's new name and appearance, and a lot of this chapter actually, to Aelita's Wings.**


	3. Chapter 3

**_Uprooted Again!_**

**_Honey_**

Even with the super speed, it took me an hour to get up the mountain and at a location where I could see the other side.

And what I could see was a city. Well, "city" was a misnomer; it was probably more like a town. Still, I really didn't get out much.

And right around there, I realized I was hungry. And…my meager allowance was back in my now-demolished room. Or was anyone watching that place now that it was down?

* * *

Two hours later, I'd covered the distance straight between the mountain and my house, and had found my piggy bank, which was a gift from my grandfather. Amazingly, the dorky thing had survived the house falling on it, probably because of how much money I had packed into it: easily fifty bucks, considering I'd also shoved bills into it and never got around to spending any of it. Of course, the fact that I'd kept it up above my room, between my ceiling and the roof tiles, probably had had a hand in its survival; technically, only one or two roof tiles were on top of it. (Oh yeah: don't ask me why nobody was guarding the remains of my house.)

I sat down on a fallen log, carefully pulled the plug from underneath the bank, and counted out ten dollars, shoving them into my jeans pocket. "That ought to do for one good meal somewhere. Too bad too much housing material was piled on top of my room, or I'd have gotten my gloves back."

* * *

Carrying the book under one arm and the pig under the other arm, I ran to the outskirts of the town. By now, it was sunset and I was definitely ready for supper. Still, I couldn't carry the book and bank around town, not without a bag. Where should I hide them?

I finally found a decent place: a hollow tree. Book went in first, with the pig on top of it. Then I went in to find a restaurant or something.

* * *

A couple of days passed like this. I generally chose to go with one big meal a day, to avoid running out of money too fast, and I slept under my tree. It wasn't comfortable, but it was probably better than Basilisk's alternative. I couldn't find any store in this town that sold gloves, though, so I was stuck with hypersensitive hands talking to me. _Why hadn't that power turned off when I copied Quicksilver's powers? …Who cares? What matters is how do I get rid of this power?_ What I discovered was that by focusing a little, I could get Quicksilver's power out of me and turned into a quarter-size medallion with a small etching of a fast-running figure on it. Some quick tests proved that if I held the thing in my hand, I could still use the super speed. At least now it wasn't on all the time.

Then, on Day Nine, my world started getting crazy again. The town was attacked by giant robots, of all things! And they seemed to be looking for me!

I grabbed my things and ran. I wasn't using the super-speed token because I didn't want to become dependant on the thing. Besides, the robot lost me quickly enough in the trees near the town.

Oh – the robots weren't initially looking for me. If the screams were anything to go by, they'd been looking for a different mutant in that town. I did catch a glimpse of her: a girl, who looked like she was growing bony spikes from her back and face.

I almost didn't help her. But then I saw…I don't know…I saw myself in her. I couldn't let her suffer the same thing. Clutching my super-speed token in my fist, I ran over to her, grabbed her wrist with my fingertips and yanked her out of the way of an "apprehending" blast from that robot – which sent us both flying.

We ended up crashing in my landing. And…something landed on my right leg, so I couldn't get up! I glared at Spiky-Girl. "Go! Go! Don't worry about me!"

She hesitated for a second. Then she turned and ran.

I shoved the Quicksilver token back into my pocket, since I didn't think I'd be using it anytime soon. _Brave words, sweetheart, but what are you going to do now?_

_**Scott**_

Odd for a sentinel to attack such an isolated place; still, it was a problem, so Jean, Bobby and I went to deal with it.

While Bobby and Jean worked at diverting it, I looked around a little for a good place to stop and aim at it.

That's how I noticed that the last shot during the sentinel's original purpose had knocked a couple of girls over. One was trapped by her leg, and she'd told the other one – one with spikes growing from her back – to run.

It seemed like as good a place as any, so I vaulted over next to her, aimed at the sentinel, and fired. It did some damage, but not enough.

"Who – who are you?" The girl at my feet sounded terrified.

"Someone who's trying to help you. If someone could keep its attention this way," I started thinking out loud, "then we could take it down easily."

I heard her take a deep breath. Glancing down, I finally asked, "What are your powers?"

"I…I'm a copycat?"

_That'll work._ "How does that power work?" I asked, kneeling next to her as Bobby surfed around the sentinel, keeping its attention.

"Ph-physical contact, my hand to bare skin."

"Okay…" I glanced back. "_**Jean, tell Bobby to stop dancing around that thing. I've got a plan.**_" I outlined the plan to her.

"_**Okay, Scott, but be careful.**_"

I nodded, and then carefully lined up her gaze with the sentinel. "When you get my powers, don't stop looking in this direction, all right?"

"O-okay."

Getting out of her line of vision, I picked up her right hand and looked at the palm. There was a green X on it. _At least her powers are self-explanatory._ With a deep breath of my own, I guided her hand so that its palm was touching my face.

The result was quite satisfactory: red lasers launched themselves from her eyes and hit the sentinel! Her aim had gotten skewed; I had aimed her at its middle, and she was hitting its chest. Still, the idea was to keep its attention, anyway. I dropped her hand and ran around to its other side, firing my own laser at its back in about the same place.

The sentinel couldn't take that kind of punishment for long, and it went down. Of course, then we had a different problem: _my _problem, on a different person. And she was too panicked to listen to me, even if I got to her before she destroyed something else!

"Jean!" I yelled as the girl's red lasers shot out into the sky, "Knock her out!"

Jean spared a look at her, and the girl's eyes fell closed, shutting off the lasers. Then the support beam lifted off her leg, and Bobby surfed over and picked her up. Jean grabbed the only other things near the girl – a book, and a scratched model pig. "She'll miss these if we don't bring them. Let's get her back to the institute, where she can recover."

I nodded. "And hopefully figure out how the powers she copies turn off before she wakes up."

* * *

**A/N: Enter the X-Men! ^_^**


	4. Chapter 4

**_A New Home_**

_**Honey**_

I woke up oddly…I suppose "un-groggy" would be the best way to put it. Normally, my waking-up process involves a lot of yawning, but I didn't feel tired when I woke up. What I noticed right away that seemed off, though, was that I couldn't open my eyes!

I started lifting my hands to my face and hesitated. _Wait…is there a reason that you'd have your eyes forced shut right now?_ I ran a quick personal analysis. _Oh. That laser power. I'd better deal with that before I take off whatever's on my head._

"So you're awake," an adult male voice came from my left.

It made me twitch, definitely, but I decided not to worry about it. Instead, I focused the laser power into a token under my right hand. Then I sat up. "Moving does entail being awake, I'll grant you that. How do you take this blindfold off?"

"Sorry for having to have that done to you," the voice went on as I set my palms against the metal surface around my head, "but you weren't in any shape to listen to instructions on Scott's lasers."

"Yeah…I _was _kind of panicked." My fingers found the switch, and the circlet came off.

Blinking my eyes open, I found myself in a room that reminded me of my room without any real decoration. The walls were a different color than mine, and every piece of furniture was in a different place or different style. The only real sign that this wasn't a hotel room was the fact that my dorky piggy bank was sitting on the dresser next to Mom's cookbook.

And next to my bed was a bald man in a wheelchair. "I am Professor Charles Xavier, Honey Jackson."

I didn't recognize his name, but that last one gave me a start. Just saying "honey" could have been just an endearment or something, but he said my _last_ name, too! How'd he know my name?

My hands gripped the blankets, I felt a kind of burn at my eyes, and quickly released my right hand, jerking it away from my token. "Ah…and where am I?"

He smiled, folding his hands. "You're at my school for gifted youngsters. The X-Men brought you here after you helped them defeat the sentinel."

"Um…oh?" _Is _that_ what that thing was called?_

Xavier nodded. "Yes, and I understand you don't have any place to stay right now."

Understanding dawned. "You're a telepath, and you're reading my thoughts right now."

"Just enough to understand your current situation," he reassured me. "And in light of that, I'd like to extend an invitation to you. You may stay here for as long as you wish, at least until you fully understand your gifts." Then he held out his hand.

That was the point where I hesitated. And, of course, he noticed. "I'm well aware you can't turn off your powers." He just left it at that, and left the hand extended.

That settled me. "Professor, you have yourself a deal; I'll stay here, at least until I find my feet." And I returned the handshake.

And…discovered that he had a spinal injury that disabled his legs, hence the wheelchair, and became a telepath myself.

Glancing at my hand, I focused the power into a token and set it next to the laser token. "Um…I ended up leaving my house in a bit of a hurry, and it's kind of…broken, now, so I couldn't retrieve my clothes…"

He smiled again. Had he ever really stopped? "I'll have Jean buy you some new clothes, and a couple pairs of gloves."

"Thanks." I got up, grabbing the tokens and shoving them in my pocket. "Is there anything I should know about this place?" And, knowing what little I did about him, he'd tell me exactly what _I_ thought I should know.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Most of the people here will allow you your space. Possibly the only people who will give you any more attention than normal are Kitty, Jubilee, Warren and possibly Bobby, though he saw you on the last town."

_Bingo._ "Thanks again."

* * *

**A/N: This chapter's kind of short, but her other acts of the day will be enough to fill up a whole chapter in and of themselves, so I decided to leave this one at her deciding to stay.**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Meeting her Classmates_**

* * *

_**Jean**_

I found the professor leaving our new girl's room. And she was following him, clinging tightly to the back of his wheelchair. "Honey, this is Jean Grey. Jean, this is Honey."

"Yeah," she sounded sheepish as she held out her hand, "that's my actual name."

I returned the handshake with a smile as the professor went on, "I'd like you to introduce her to the rest of the students. I'm going to find Ororo. We need to discuss possible changes in the curriculum."

I could sense his worry as he disengaged Honey's other hand from his wheelchair and rolled off. "_**Monitor her emotional reactions to the students, and inform me of any strong negative emotions.**_"

"_**What's bothering him?**_"

I glanced in surprise at Honey. She was glancing up at me, and she'd spoken telepathically! "Well…it's just that the institute's been short on teachers. Peter just disappeared one day, and the professor can't find him again." Trying to lighten the mood again, I smiled at her and started walking back down the hall, Honey following like a shadow. "So you're a telepath?"

"Um…no. Well, I am now, but I'm not usually a telepath."

She was starting to babble from nervousness, so I stepped in. "I know what your powers are. I was on that mission where we found you, and saw Scott give you his powers."

"Scott?" I sensed definite confusion.

"He has laser vision that he can't turn off."

"Oh." She suddenly cocked an eyebrow at me. "Um…boyfriend?"

I set my hand on my head. "Are you reading my mind?"

She dipped her head a little in embarrassment, but shook her head and added with a slight grin, "You just turned as red as your hair."

I rolled my eyes. She was definitely going to be amusing.

"Oh…Professor had said, um, that you could go shopping for some new clothes. I only have the ones on my back, and, uh, I need gloves." She showed me the green marks on her hands.

"Well, you'll definitely need them, what with it being winter, but we're not going shopping today. First, though, you need to meet the others."

_**Honey**_

I was a little shy about meeting the "others." Somehow, I figured she'd picked up on that.

"You don't need to worry. They might be a little rowdy, but nothing too crazy."

_I hope so._

We entered a new room, one with a couple couches and a bunch of teenagers chasing each other around the coffee table. A blond boy was running away from an angry girl in pink shades who was throwing sparks after him. Two more girls, one with a brown ponytail and one with a skunk-stripe in her hair, were sitting on one of the couches. Ponytail thought it was hysterical, and Skunk-do was covering her face with a gloved hand.

"All right, break it up!" Jean ordered. They ignored her. With a sigh, she looked at the ceiling. Then her attention came back to the kids, and suddenly, both chasers were pinned to opposite walls. "I said, break it up. There's someone new for you to meet. This is Honey."

Ponytail walked over. "Hi! I'm Kitty!"

I held out my hand automatically, and she shook it enthusiastically. _So she's got the power to walk through walls._

Then Jean let the chasers down, and I was introduced to Jubilee, Bobby, and Rogue in rapid succession of each other. Jubilee was wearing gloves as well as Rogue, but Bobby wasn't – and his powers were ice. Suddenly, I figured I knew what had happened in here.

Then one of the other doors opened – and in walked a rough man, probably about my father's age. His muscles definitely stood out, and his hair just struck me as being, I don't know…animal-like? "All right, what's going on?"

Jubilee immediately pointed a finger. "Bobby dropped ice down my back!"

_Bingo._

"It was a _joke_!" Bobby protested back.

_I'll believe that, too._

He held up a hand, forestalling any more argument, and then pointed at Bobby. "Go find Scott in the Danger Room. I think you're due for some more training, anyway."

The joker groaned, but left, while the girls all gave each other discreet high-fives.

"Logan," Jean got his attention, "this is Honey. She's new."

He looked at me, clearly evaluating me. Then he held out his hand.

I flinched back a little from the intimidating man, but then shook his hand as well. His powers…I didn't copy them, but it was a little like my powers had said, "Oh, okay, he has healing powers. Well, so do I; so let's not worry about it." And…

I cocked my eyebrow at him. _How do I bring this up?_ "Um…metal bones?"

He definitely looked surprised. "Adamantium. Which is metal, yeah."

Kitty asked suddenly, "Hey, what _is _your power, anyway?"

I glanced down. "Um, I'm an over-analyzer and a copycat."

Rogue laid down a guess of her own, with her southern accent. "You can't turn your powers off, either, huh?"

I shook my head. "Gloves are my only option."

"So are mine. Probably the only differences between your powers and mine are that your powers only work through your hands, and they don't hurt people."

I glanced back up at her. "You used some definite points there. Let me guess: your powers don't just work through your hands, and they hurt people."

"Yup. If I hold on too long, I could send them into a coma, or even kill them."

Then Logan looked up. "Elf, you know you're not allowed on the ceiling."

I looked at Jean as she just glared at Logan. "Logan," she muttered through her teeth, "I wasn't going to draw her attention to Kurt just yet!"

_Huh?_

"I was trying not to get trampled," a German-accented male voice answered Logan, and a thump signified that something had landed on the coffee table.

I turned to look – and was shocked out of my mind.

Standing on the coffee table – and quickly getting down – was a boy about my age, possibly a year or two older. He had blue…was it his _skin _that was blue, or did he have fur? His shoulder-length hair was blue, anyway: dark blue. His feet were oddly designed: two long toes pointing forward, one equally long one pointing backward. His hands were also strange, each having only three fingers. And he had a _tail!_ A long, arrowhead-tipped tail! His ears were pointed, and his yellow eyes glowed in his blue face!

Only one sound escaped me then. "Oooh!"

He turned to look at me in surprise.

Jean, evidently deciding that the cat was out of the bag anyway, said, "Honey, this is Kurt Wagner. Kurt, this is Honey."

He didn't seem sure he should approach me - negative reactions to his appearance more common than positive, perhaps? So, I took one step away from Jean, held out my hand and said haltingly the only German I knew: "_G-Guten tag, Herr _Wagner_._"

If what I was sensing with Jean's powers was anything to go by, everyone in the room was impressed by the fact that I knew even that much German.

Including Kurt: he closed the distance and took my hand with a smile – he had small fangs, too! "_Guten tag_ yourself, _fraulein_, and…just Kurt."

_So he _does_ have fur! And his power's teleportation! And…he was born with this look, so I'm not going to copy it. Okay, so that's how my powers work in regards to appearance._ "Um…okay," I answered, suddenly shy.

"Hey," Kitty asked while I dropped his hand and stepped back again, "how come _you_ didn't turn into a demon?"

"Because he was born with that look; as near as I can tell, I can't copy something that didn't just wake up."

"Oh."

Jean took hold of my shoulder. "Well, we've got other places to go. She's still not seen much of the institute."

Everyone said some stuff vaguely along the lines of "Okay, bye!" I glanced back and gave a little wave, showing my doctor-cross.

* * *

The next place we went was outside. And there, I saw the professor talking with a white-haired African woman – at least, I think she was African; definitely dark-skinned, I'm not racist – and a shaggy blue…thing.

_Hey, Kurt, I think I just found your uncle._ It was a stupid thought, but it was the first thing that popped into my head. Still, I laid a bet with myself that White-hair was Ororo.

Before we went anywhere near them, however, suddenly Jean shaded her eyes and looked up. "Oh, hey, Warren!"

I followed her gaze and caught my breath, my eyes going huge.

Flying down towards us was an angel! A drop-dead handsome, golden-haired, white-winged angel boy!

He landed, and his attention immediately went to me.

"Warren, this is Honey. Honey, Warren."

_One of those people Professor warned me about._ For some reason, I was frightened of him. Not that I thought he'd hurt me, but…he was the handsomest person my age I'd ever encountered, he made me feel plainer than I already felt, and need I repeat I'm romantically inept?

He smiled at me (and got me even more nervous), took hold of my hand – my right with his left, and this is a big deal to me: I've only seen that gesture in movies when the guy's going to kiss the girl's hand! – And then he said...I think he said, "I'm honored." He might have even kissed my hand. I don't know. I was more interested in what I was feeling in my back.

Especially since it was starting to hurt. I tried my best to keep it from showing in my face, but Jean picked up on something. "Honey, are you – oh!"

Warren – thank God! – let go of my hand and looked worried. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, she's just – "

Jean never had the chance to finish her sentence. Suddenly, large white wings sprouted from my back, tearing my shirt, catching Jean in the stomach, knocking her over and shoving me into Warren's strong arms.

I think I'd have been mortified if I hadn't been trying so hard to catch my breath. As it was, I was just very embarrassed.

"As I was saying," Jean remarked from the snow, amazingly calm, "she's a copycat who can't turn off her powers. When you touched the palm of her hand, she copied your wings."

"Oh; I'm sorry, Honey. I didn't mean to send you over like that."

"It's okay, really!" I tried to push myself off of him, but the deadweight on my back was making that hard. Finally, I decided to try using those wings. I lifted each of them, experimentally twitched them, and then gave them a good flap forwards. That worked…in the sense that I was now off of Warren. But then I nearly fell over backwards.

Big clawed hands suddenly hit my back right between my new wings. "Steady there!"

I glanced over my shoulder. It was the blue thing. Up close, he wasn't that scary. Though I did wonder how he got over to me so fast. He must be pretty quick.

"Honey," the professor said, remarkably calmly, "this is Professor Hank McCoy. He came here after his mutation made it impossible for him to be in public."

_He's telling me that so I know that Hank's powers are "new," as opposed to born! Right._ "H-hello."

He set me upright, came around where I could see him properly, and answered, "Greetings and salutations."

_Professor, hm? English professor, maybe?_

Then I turned, held my hand out, and went on, "You must be Ororo."

She shook my hand. "Hello."

_Storm powers! Whoa!_

I made up my mind. Turning around, I held my hand out to Hank. "I'd like to just get it over with. I only copy a power once; I found that out with Jean."

He smiled – his fangs were more pronounced than Kurt's – and shook my hand. "This is going to look interesting."

I was going to answer. But then suddenly, I started itching. Looking at my hands, I noticed with fascination that honey-gold fur was spreading away from all the sides of both doctor crosses.

It only took a minute for everything that wasn't white wings to be blonde fur, and I had fangs and claws of my own. The doctor crosses were still there.

When I glanced up again, I noticed that apparently some time when I'd turned around, Warren had flown off. Whatever; I focused the fur into a token, along with the other powers I'd copied into their own separate tokens. I did the wings last, mostly because I suspected that that one would drain my energy like it had hurt when I got them.

Bingo; I nearly went over. Jean caught me. "We'd better get you to your room before you faint or freeze."

"O-okay." I smiled around at the teachers and added, "It was nice to meet you all."

* * *

_**Jean**_

I finished putting Honey back to bed and went to find the professor again.

"So, how did it go?"

"She took Kurt's appearance remarkably well. I didn't feel any fear from her, only a little shyness. Everyone else she was vaguely nervous around, except Warren."

"Yes, I felt that surge of fear. That Warren didn't feel it himself is a sign of how much control she has over the copied powers she has."

I nodded.

"I think," the professor nodded at the institute, "that she'll fit in just fine with the other students, once she's begun to relax."

I agreed.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Kiss Under the Mistletoe_**

* * *

_**Honey**_

A few days had gone by since I first joined. I'd copied Jubilee's powers at last, and gotten myself set up as the cook, because I loved to cook and bake; and besides, everyone loved my cooking.

What a shame that most of these people were going home for Christmas, including Kurt. Only Scott, Rogue, the professor, Logan and Hank were staying, as far as I could tell. And of course, I was staying; not having a home or family to visit for Christmas kind of kills any arrangements of that sort.

Jean had indeed gotten me a new wardrobe. It was doubly important since Warren's wings had torn a hole in the back of my only shirt. I'm not using that token very much – it drains my energy, it hurts, and half the time, it's just not worth it.

Gathered together in the living room, we all exchanged gifts with the ones who were going to leave. I didn't have anything that I could give them, but Kitty reassured me, "With these cookies, you won't have to! All of us are going to miss your baking, believe me!"

Then, of all the amusing things to happen, Kurt wandered over to our sofa and held a sprig of mistletoe over Kitty's shoulder, wishes plain.

"Kurt!" Kitty laughed when she noticed. "In your dreams!"

"All in the holiday spirit!" he retorted, and then he started chasing her around the room. "Just one little kiss!"

I was laughing just as hard as the others were, even though in the middle of Kitty's laugh I heard her say "Ew!" I barely heard the professor say wistfully to Logan, "To be young again!"

I didn't hear Logan's reply, for fumbling the professor's power token into my glove. Once it touched my palm, I thought, "_**Kitty! Lure him over here!**_"

"_Why?_"

"**You **_**might not want to be kissed by him, but **_**I**_** wouldn't mind! I've never been kissed before, mistletoe or no!**_"

She gave no sign of anything answering me, but she did start half-running back over to me as I pulled the token from my glove and put it back in my pocket. End result, she fell partway in my lap.

Kurt sat down next to the two of us and held up the mistletoe. I shut my eyes tight and clenched my hands into fists, trying not to giggle. This could hardly be called a prank, since he was still going to kiss a girl under the mistletoe, but at least I'd get my first kiss.

Kitty phased through me to escape behind the sofa, and I felt Kurt's lips touch my cheek. About two seconds later, I felt him jerk away. The room was silent.

_Noticed who you'd just kissed, hm?_ Glancing at him, I noticed he looked…nervous, though he was still sort of holding the mistletoe above our heads. Well, it wasn't like nobody knew how boy-shy I was, I'd made that abundantly clear three days ago. Did he think I'd run or something?

Suddenly, I felt like showing Kitty up. No girl wanted to kiss a furry humanoid face, when they may easily kiss their furry pets' faces? Sheesh – I'll show them! This was going to get a million laughs, but I didn't really care.

I grabbed hold of Kurt and gave him a loud kiss right on his fuzzy cheek.

I got the laughs, all right – and Kurt dropped the mistletoe on my head. I'd startled him!

"All in the holiday spirit!" I retorted at him, grinning like an idiot. Then I hopped up and ran off to check on my newest batch of candy cane cookies.

_**Kurt**_

For a minute, all I could do was sit there, my mouth open and my hand on my cheek where Honey had kissed me, staring after her.

The professor was the first to say something that wasn't a laugh. "Well, that was unexpected."

_What an understatement._

Jean couldn't calm down enough to speak, but she thought at me, "_**That was actually probably a one-time thing. She's extremely embarrassed right now.**_"

Kitty gasped, "You should see the look on your face, Kurt! You look like the kitty in that viral video!"

Bobby wiped his face. "She still had the mistletoe in her hair! How long do you think it'll take for her to notice _that_?"

I decided right around then that I'd definitely miss her over the holidays. Her, and not just her cooking.

_**Honey**_

I couldn't believe I just did that! I'd never kissed anyone before!

I yanked the mistletoe out of my hairbow, studied it for a minute, and decided to keep it. It wasn't every day, after all, that I'd actually get kissed under one.

_Would…would I ever dare to do that again?_

I decided right then that I'd definitely miss Kurt over the holidays. He may look like a demon, but he's got the heart of an angel, or at least a human.

* * *

Rogue cornered me in my room that night after everyone had left. "Hey."

"Hey."

"You didn't say goodbye to anyone."

"I know. I just couldn't stand to watch them go, that's all."

"You mean Kurt?"

I grabbed my pillow and held it back threateningly. "You tease me about this – "

She waved her hands in surrender. "Hey, it's okay! _I_ wouldn't tease you over anything. Kitty and Jubilee are a different story entirely, though."

_Well, yeah._ I dropped the pillow again. "So…have _you _ever touched Kurt's face?"

She hesitated for a second. Then she nodded. "Once. Before I joined the X-Men. Knocked him out in the process."

"Oh." Then I pulled off a glove. "You know…we might as well find out if my powers work at all on you, or vice versa."

She flinched back. "You have no idea what you're asking!"

"Yes, I do. I might as well – look, if I need to check you for injury, I'd have to touch your bare skin anyway. We might as well get first contact over with in a controlled situation." With that, I held out my hand, palm up.

Rogue sighed. "Okay…" she pulled off one glove and touched the center of my doctor cross with one finger.

My cross immediately turned black.

_That's…new. Okay, I've still copied her power – brr! It's just as dangerous as she said!_

She pulled back again and studied her finger. "That was weird: aside from the color change, nothing happened, and I don't have anything from you."

I studied my hand in turn as the cross went green again. "I copied your power, all right, but I didn't feel any energy drain. I think that's why my cross went black – it was preventing your power from working on me through it."

We both pulled our respective gloves back on.

"So back to the first subject," Rogue tilted over onto her back on the bed, "do you like him?"

"Like…"

"Kurt."

I was quiet for a minute. Then I answered, slowly. "I…_do _like him; he's amusing. What I'm not sure about is if it's something…more."

* * *

Christmas was, without the majority of the kids, uneventful. I missed Kurt dreadfully. And Kitty, Ororo, Jubilee, Jean…even Bobby and Warren. Part of the reason for this was that I could only talk to Rogue freely of all the people left: adult males still made me nervous, and Scott still scared me even though he wasn't adult by my standards.

That night, Scott got me into the Danger Room fully suited up, visor and all. "You might as well get in some practice using those powers you've got copied. It's set on Level One, since you're not used to this and you're alone. Just let me know when you're ready."

"Okay…" I pulled out every token I had and, stacking them into two piles, opened slots on my gloves and maneuvered the tokens onto my palms.

_Scott, Ororo, Hank, Bobby, Kitty, Kurt, Quicksilver, Professor, Jean, Jubilee, Rogue, Warren…_I counted down as they entered my hands.

I got kicked over by the wings again, and it hurt just as much as the first time. Straightening up again and shaking out my new wings, I thought up, "_**I'm ready as I'll ever be.**_"

"Get set, I'm starting it…now!"

The first thing to happen was a large block fell at me from above! I ran – fast – out of the way, took a hop-step and took flight!

Then some robo-blade-things flew out at me! I blasted a couple of them with lasers, froze two more, and let the last two fly through my phased-out wings before kinetically bashing them into each other.

* * *

Truth be told, I may have absorbed twelve powers into myself, but by the end of the session, I'd only really used about eight: I hadn't bothered using the teleportation or storm powers, and I couldn't use the professor's power or Rogue's power. Next time, I'd leave behind the wings and super speed so that I could practice the two I could have used.

Oh yeah – by the end of the session, I was worn out. Basically all I did was land – properly – and open my gloves to dispel the tokens again. Pulling my wings back in took the rest of my energy, and I fell to my knees. I didn't pass out, but I was only barely able to close my gloves again and gather the tokens into my hands.

Scott came in. "If Level One could wear you out like that, then you need to work out more."

"Yeah," I gasped, "thanks for the tip. In case you didn't figure this out, Angel's wings wear me out by themselves."

"All the more reason for you to be in better shape." He helped me up and led me back out. "I'll expect to see you here tomorrow at ten thirty sharp."

"Slave-driver," I muttered as I went to my room for the night. I knew he was right, but that didn't mean I had to like it. What an ending for Christmas Day.

Once in my room, I got into my pajamas, flopped down and studied the mistletoe that I'd left on my dresser a week ago. _Kurt will be back in a couple more days._ With that happy thought, I went to sleep replaying my kiss under the mistletoe.

* * *

**A/N: 1) I loved that part of that episode of X-Men: Evolution!**

**2) The viral video Kitty mentioned was "Surprised Kitty." Can any of you imagine Kurt's face now?**

**3) Merry Christmas, readers! ^_^**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Unpleasant Changes_**

* * *

_**Honey**_

Christmas break was over, and the others were back. I'd also gotten in much better shape since then, because Scott had set Logan as my PE teacher.

And oh, if I thought I was being slave-driven _before_! The Wolverine drove me hard, forcing me to build my muscles without the use of any of my tokens, and I ended each day almost too tired to do more than throw together some frozen leftovers for everyone's dinner and began each following day extremely sore.

At least now I could easily work with the Danger Room at Level One, and without using powers at that, though without powers it was still difficult. I was still hesitant on closing in during an actual fight, though. That was how I discovered how my healing powers worked – one of Logan's swipes with his claws cut a hair too close, leaving me with a slashed shirt, thin scratches that closed a bare second later and a slight bloodstain on my shirt.

Valentine's Day was also a great deal of fun for me – I'd baked a bunch of heart-shaped cookies and cakes with frosting roses and candied rose petals on top, and I got more gifts than I'd ever gotten in my whole life!

The day after Valentine's Day, though, got a sudden downslide in my mood – the Brotherhood had decided to cause trouble, and that meant Basilisk.

_At least they found out that Peter was working for the Brotherhood. Now they know where he is, and only need to figure out _why_ he's with them._

"Frankly," Scott told the other X-Men and the professor as I wandered in with a tray of refreshments (they'd been in what I'd dubbed the conference room for an hour), "it'd help if we knew more about Basilisk. He does seem to be the leader right now."

"Well…" I hesitated, holding the tray of drinks out to Jean and looking at the professor, "I could…probably give you some old info on him."

Professor studied me while Jean relieved me of my tray. I don't know why, but everyone always thought I was going to drop the tray if I wasn't looking in the direction I was extending it.

"Yes," I answered everyone's unspoken question, "I'm asking the professor to read my mind."

* * *

About fifteen minutes later, I was up on the roof of the institute, letting everyone else talk over what was pulled from my mind. I wasn't up there long, though, before I smelled brimstone. "Hey, Kurt."

"Hey…are you okay?"

"Not really."

He came over and sat down next to me, and we just sat there in silence for a while. Then the X-Jet took off.

Finally, I told him what was bothering me. "I just wish that…if I wasn't going to have a family, that they'd just all disappear. My parents…now that they've seen me use my powers, they won't take me back, so that connection is severed. But…"

"But your brother keeps coming back to haunt you," Kurt finished for me.

I just nodded sadly.

Another few minutes passed without either of us saying anything. Then Kurt said to the sky, "I never knew my parents."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I kept quiet.

"Sometimes I wonder…what it would be like to have known them. But then I tell myself that if I terrified them into abandoning me, they probably didn't want to know me." He glanced at me. "I hadn't been able to show myself without causing fear before I came to the institute. Even at the institute, some of the students feared me until they got used to me. All the new students had to get used to me…except you."

I shrugged. "I don't know why, but I didn't find you scary. I still don't. I think…" I glanced at him, noticing that he'd turned to look at me full on. _What the heck, you may as well finish the sentence._ "…I think you're…" I fought with the last word, and then decided to say it anyway while blushing like fury, "…handsome."

His eyes widened, and a smile was flashing on and off his face.

_Had that come out like I wanted it to? Had I hesitated too long with that last word?_

When he finally made up his mind on his expression, I couldn't read it.

_Time for a change of subject._ I hugged my arms. "I don't know about you, Fuzzy, but it's a bit cold for me out here."

"Are you actually ready to go back in?"

I thought about that, looking at the clouds. "No."

"Me neither." And then he just moved a little closer and put his arms around me.

We sat like that until the X-Jet came back.

* * *

**A/N: I think I'm starting to get tired of this fic. We'll see where I go from here.**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Learning to Trust, part 1_**

* * *

**Honey**

There was a new training session soon after that mission. Now, I had a new power: the power to turn into a moving metal statue. Yes, the X-men had saved Colossus. He apologized for what he'd been forced to do, and I effectively told him to forget it.

I ended up stuck on a ledge under a falling crush-panel, and Cyclops was yelling, "Jump! I'll catch you!"

I almost jumped…but then I hesitated.

Then I smelled brimstone, three-fingered hands caught hold of my shoulders, and Nightcrawler and I were…somewhere else.

I confess, I squeaked when Kurt did that. I wasn't expecting it.

* * *

The professor cancelled the program, and we went out of the Danger Room.

"What happened in there, Honey?" Scott asked, turning to look at me. "Why didn't you jump?"

I shrugged, feeling like I was in trouble and wishing I could see his expression under that visor. "I got scared all of a sudden. I can't explain it."

"Scared? Don't you trust me?"

I didn't answer. I stared at my boots instead, and let that answer for itself.

Everyone else stopped walking, but I didn't. I couldn't face them again.

* * *

Kitty caught up with me while I was changing out of my uniform. "You don't trust Scott?"

"Ah…let's just say…" I pulled my civilian clothes on again and turned to look at her, "I never learned how to trust anyone with my safety."

She stared at me for a second. "Not even Kurt? Or me?"

This would hurt me, and her, but I had to say it. "Not even Kurt or you. Believe me, I _want_ to, but I just get scared!" I didn't even bother taking offense to the specific boy that she'd mentioned.

Kitty crossed her arms and studied me. "That could end up being a problem. Since you're on the team, and one of us, we've got to get you to trust us completely. When did all this start, anyway?" she went on as we left the locker room.

"Um…you remember the professor telling the school how I was homeschooled ever since my brother got kicked out?"

"Yeah…"

"That's it. I was almost always left alone at home with both my parents holding down jobs. I had to teach myself survival skills, and the first lesson was that…nobody else was going to look out for me, so I'd better learn how to look out for myself."

"You've been telling yourself that nobody's going to save you…" Kitty did the math in her head, and apparently the professor had told them how old I was when Theo was kicked out, "…For _eight years_?"

I shrugged again. "Pretty much."

"This is going to be tough."

* * *

Actually, it wasn't as hard as all that. Kitty simply turned me over to Jean, and she took me and a few other teachers outside and tied a blindfold on me. Then she had me walking around an obstacle course, with the others calling directions to me. All I'd requested was that they call instructions one at a time, because otherwise it would get confusing.

My best track record seemed to be with Jean when it came down to trusting that my "guide" wasn't pulling some sort of prank. Steadily, though, I got better and better with trusting that the others – all the others, students included – were not going to walk me into trees or somebody else.

Well…actually, it turned into a game with the students: who could guide me around the longest? And everyone got one free "prank", where they could have me walk into somebody or something. I wasn't going very fast, because I wasn't that sure of my feet, so walking into something wouldn't hurt me.

Bobby kept using his freebie first, and then he couldn't do so again for the rest of the game. Kurt never did prank me, though. I wonder why…

* * *

Then one day, while I was out shopping with Kitty, something strange happened. A mist came up around us – and we were inside a mall!

"Um…Kitty? Last I checked, Storm stayed behind."

"I hear you, this is weird. You left your Storm token at home, right?"

"Yeah, I hate fitting my tokens into my jeans pockets." After a moment's silence, I asked, "Wanna check it out?"

"We'd better."

Quietly, we walked through the mist, looking for the source. Kitty was gripping my arm super-tight, but at least she wasn't phasing.

Finally, we spotted the source. And at least we were at such an angle that _he_ didn't spot _us_.

It was Basilisk. He was wearing an oversized hoodie, which was why nobody around him was freaking out much, and his eyes were unfocused.

"I didn't know he could affect the air," Kitty whispered to me.

"You and me both," I whispered back. "Let's get out of here while the getting's good."

We turned around and I just about had a heart attack.

"Going somewhere?" How in the world did _Avalanche_ get behind _us_ without my hearing it?

Kitty grabbed my wrist and started phasing through the floor.

"Uh, Kitty, do we even know what's _under_ this floor?"

"Not _him_, that's for sure!"

He grabbed hold of my other wrist, but I managed to twist free…leaving my right glove in his hands.

Falling through the floor landed us practically right in front of Gambit! Kitty was going to go right on phasing to finish getting away, but Gambit actually managed to catch hold of – and _keep_ hold of – my wrist. "Not so fast, _cheri_," he said. "Your dear brother has wanted to speak to you since the raid your new friends made on our place."

"He can leave a message," I retorted. "Kitty, go! Get help!"

I wasn't going to try and fight this guy, because I didn't have any of my tokens with me.

"Funny you say that, _cheri_," Gambit watched Kitty run off, "it's as though you actually thought you'd _need_ help." His hand slipped from my wrist to my hand, and he started leading me towards the elevator.

_Acting casual, huh?_ I thought, barely registering the fact that I'd just copied Gambit's powers from those odd gloves he had – why have gloves that cover every finger except two? _Well, two can play the casual game._ "Doesn't everybody need help at least sometimes? I mean, I've had to get along on no help at all for half my life, but a lot of times I really felt like I needed help."

"_Oui_, but why now?"

"Because my dear departed brother can't be too happy with the way I've messed with his plans."

His eyebrow went up at my choice of words. "You speak as though he's dead."

I sighed. "He's as good as dead to me. My brother's name was Theodore Jackson, and that person doesn't exist anymore."

He was quiet for a minute. Then he stopped and changed the exact position of his hand in mine. He was still holding my hand, but his fingers were curved up and around, almost at my wrist. "I'd like that back now, by the way."

"Like what back?" I asked, though I suspected I already knew.

"Your copy of my powers. I heard about that one from my speedy friend Quicksilver, and saw you run off faster than he was."

I sighed, focusing the power into my – his – hand. "It seemed faster because he started later, that's all. Could you just put that into my pocket, please? It'd be a shame for such a thing to be lost, and you've already got the original."

He smiled, took hold of my wrist with his other hand and slipped the token into my right-hand back pocket, where – depending on situations – I wouldn't be able to reach it. "Take good care of that, _cheri_."

_Whatever._

* * *

**Kitty**

"Guys!" I ran through the door – literally – and yelled out, "Honey's in trouble!"

"Where is she?" Scott asked right away.

"The mall. She told me to go get help. It's Basilisk!"

Rogue groaned and hid her face in her hands. "Not again!"

"He doesn't seem to be one who takes a defeat gracefully," Hank stated.

"No duh! Now how are we going to find her?" I looked expectantly at the professor. "Cerebro?"

"Not to track Honey. Her powers are very erratic, and only show up clearly on Cerebro when she's using them."

"And she doesn't use them much anyway," Warren added, "not with those gloves always on."

"What we can do," the professor went on as if he hadn't been interrupted, "is track the other mutants who had appeared to capture her. Who was there, Kitty?"

"Uh…Basilisk, Gambit and Avalanche."

"She might come out of this with a few new powers," Jubilee remarked. "All she's copied from the Brotherhood so far is Quicksilver."

"Scott, Jean, Kurt," the professor turned. "I'll want you three to go recover Honey."

Good thing he picked Kurt; the fuzzy boy would probably go nuts if he had to wait and find out how the rescue mission went. He's got it as bad as Honey!

* * *

**Honey**

Quicksilver put some chains on my wrists and ankles almost as soon as we got back to their base.

"I didn't appreciate your siccing your friends on us, sis," Basilisk told me as I spat my hair back out of my mouth where it had blown in Speedy's runaround.

"They'd have come anyway," I retorted, "once they found out Peter was here. Why _was_ he here, anyway?"

"Oh, a little sleight-of-claw on my part," he flexed his dangerous claws, studying them as if planning his next manicure or something. "I simply hinted that those he cared most about would suffer if he didn't join me, and there wasn't much he could do about it."

_Blackmail. Why aren't I surprised?_ "So…I didn't ask for details about that mission. What happened to my parents?" _Come to think of it…why aren't I more scared?_

He scowled at me past his shades. "They're beyond your help."

_He wouldn't be scowling if he'd had his way with them._

I squirmed against my chains until I got my watch out from under the manacles and looked at the time. "And…how long are you planning on having me as a…guest?"

"I've been intending to have you meet my teacher; your Professor Xavier's opposite number, you might say."

I stared at him. "Magneto's your teacher?"

"And a quite good one, too."

_Please, X-Men, come get me! I don't want to meet Magneto!_

"But he couldn't be bothered to come see you," Basilisk went on with a sigh.

I sighed, too – with relief.

Then he just turned his back on me. After staring at him for a minute, I figured I knew what was up. When he was younger, he hadn't wanted to share his things with me, because they were _his_ things and no one else's. It was the same here; it was just that I was the only other mutant Jackson that he knew of, so I was the only part of his family that he truly considered "his." It almost had me sorry for him.

Almost.

"I have a life now, Basilisk," I told him. "Can't you just let the past go? Can't you just let _me_ go? I want…I want the future. And my future…is called Nightcrawler, frankly."

He turned around again and stared at me. "Nightcrawler? What kind of a future is that?"

"Not _what_, _who_. One of the X-Men." I left it at that.

"Oh. Them." He sounded disapproving.

* * *

Five minutes later, almost as soon as we stopped talking, we had some company: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, and Nightcrawler!

I didn't see half of what was going on, but at long last, Jean spared a thought in my direction. "_**Are you all right?**_"

"_Yeah. It's just that…I don't think Basilisk wants to let me go, since I'm the only other mutant he knows about in his family._"

"_**Hold tight. We'll get you out of here.**_"

Kurt finally got over to me. "Honig!* Did you copy any of the Brotherhood's powers?"

I love the way he says my name. "Gambit's. It's the only power I've got with me right now, but it's in my back pocket, and I can't reach it."

"If you could use it, then you could break these cuffs off." He glanced over my shoulder at my jeans, and then back at the fight. "We don't have time, though." His yellow eyes met my green ones. "Do you trust me?"

* * *

**A/N*: "Honig" is the German word for "honey." This is literally, though the first time it's brought up, how Kurt addresses Honey, like his calling Kitty "Katya" in some comic books.**


	9. Chapter 9

**_Learning to Trust, part 2_**

* * *

**Honey**

I was quiet for a long moment. Then finally I answered, "With my life, Kurt."

"Good." Then he caught me up in his arms and teleported.

When my sight cleared, the first thing I noticed was that my hair was displaying upside-down gravity, but I wasn't falling. Looking around and "down", I saw that Kurt's tail was wrapped around a fire escape ladder.

"Hold still," Kurt told me. "Which pocket is your token in?"

"My right back pocket, actually."

I felt Kurt's right arm tighten around me, and his left hand slipped into my pocket. I chose to focus on staying calm. _Yeah, yeah. So there's a boy effectively setting his hand on your rear end, who cares? He's trying to help you._

I felt the token move as he managed to get a hold of it, and he got it out of my pocket without dropping it. Swapping it into his right hand, he grabbed hold of my chained wrists. "Still trust me?"

"Yes…"

Then Kurt let go with his right arm, giving my legs just enough of a kick to send me hanging right side up by my wrists from his left hand. I couldn't help it – I squeaked, grabbing hold of his wrist with both hands.

And that was probably a good thing, because right then I smelled brimstone and felt hands – adult, male, and relatively normal – grab hold of me!

Then I smelled more brimstone and we were falling. I craned my neck around to try and see my captor.

And…wished I hadn't. He looked exactly like what I pictured a devil to look like: red skin, black hair, a narrow goatee, and pointed eyebrows and ears.

Kurt still had hold of my manacles, and I still had hold of his wrist. And then…

It was like being in a tug of war game, where both teams could teleport, and I was the rope. Each was trying to get the other to let go of me by teleporting into the craziest directions in midair.

Finally, Kurt remembered the token. Or rather, he realized why I'd let go of his wrist with my right hand. He slammed the token against my doctor cross. Then I felt his tail wrap around my ankle manacle and he gave me a signal with his eyes, _Let go!_

I let go. Clearly he didn't want to be anywhere near my wrist manacles when they blew.

As he let go of my manacles and swung down out of my line of sight, I heard a laugh behind my head. "Your friend thinking about giving up?"

I charged my cuffs. _This will hurt both of us, you…what's the best insult?_ Then I squirmed around, hoping that Kurt could hang on through my legs thrashing, and shoved my glowing cuffs into the creep's face while turning my own face away. "Eat this, Hellfire-reject!"

Then my cuffs exploded, hitting his face and ripping through the skin on my wrists at the same time.

He and I yelled at the same time as well, and he let go of my waist, leaving me and Kurt - he'd succeeded in hanging on that whole time - free-falling.

Kurt swung up again and put his own arms around my waist. "You ready?"

"Wait…" I wasn't sure what brimstone smoke would have on my healing, but I didn't want to find out a negative the hard way. I watched in a kind of morbid fascination as my wrists healed right before my eyes. When I effectively had new skin covering the slashes, I said, "Okay, now!"

We teleported to a location closer to Jean, and she caught us, killing all our momentum. Then we all ran to the X-Jet and went home, Kurt still carrying me.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Jean asked, as Scott blasted my ankle cuffs off.

"Sure I'm okay; in the end, that explosion just ripped my tan off, effectively." I studied my hands. Both were bare. "And…my other glove."

Well, I got Kurt to relax enough to doze in the jet while we went home. And he was still holding me in his arms as I myself dozed off.


	10. Chapter 10

**_Happiest Birthday of All_**

* * *

**Kurt**

A few weeks had passed since the rescue. Then the professor called us into his office for a meeting.

"This is actually a bit of a surprise even to me," he began, "for Honey doesn't think about it much…but her birthday is coming up."

That announcement set all my friends in an uproar, and I could only stare in shock.

"And," he went on, "she has never had a party on any birthday in her past that she can consciously remember."

Katya treated this as a disaster. "Never?"

"Never. Her birthday is two weeks from today, so I expect you will all have plans to make?"

Jean spoke up. "I'll keep us all telepathically linked, so that we don't accidentally all get her the same thing!"

"If you decide to include Honey in that," the professor warned, "in order to find out what she would want most, be careful that she doesn't notice you. She's more sensitive than most."

"Yes, sir."

As we all went out, I started racking my brain. What could _I_ get her? It wasn't as if I could go out and buy something!

* * *

The professor saw to it that food was ordered, since Honig wouldn't be surprised about the party if she was the one making the food. Jean not only kept us linked, but helped the girls make decorations. Everyone took turns going shopping for gifts.

I didn't know what I could do, so I stayed out of their way. And when her birthday finally came, I figured I could at least write up a message in a card.

* * *

**Honey**

I thought I sensed a new kind of energy in the air on my birthday. It was a kind of excited tension.

I walked into the main hall and…

"SURPRISE!"

I jumped a mile!

There were balloons and streamers all over the place, and a banner that read "Happy Birthday Honey!" in large, clumsy block letters. Practically the whole school was there, yelling out their own congratulations as I slowly walked down to them.

"Yeah," I laughed, "thanks for the heart attack – just what I needed!"

"We wanted you to have a surprise party," Kitty protested, while still laughing.

After we all laughed for a while, played some random games and had cake and who knows what else – I was still a little stunned and didn't remember this part very well – everyone started giving me presents.

Most of the presents were pretty funny, especially since I thought I saw Jean's touch in that everything was something I'd wanted:

Some CDs – one for Wicked, among others,

A DVD for the movie trilogy _The Lord of the Rings_,

A spiky dog-collar (I'd forgotten I'd wanted one, back when I was interested in looking tough, even though nobody would see me in it at the time).

Actually, "everything" was stretching it: I actually had fairly simple desires, if DVDs and CDs were simple. Most of the stuff was funny because there was a joke in them. For example, Bobby had gotten me a pair of mittens with pompoms on the wrists. I had so many gloves, and he bought me _mittens_!

The biggest surprise was when Scott walked up to me, holding out a small box. "You have your license, right?"

"My…"

"Driver's license."

I stared at him. "You got me a _car?_"

"Well…it's a combined present," he called as I dashed over to the window to look out at a green car parked right in sight, "from myself, Ororo, Hank and the Professor."

I confess, I dashed back over and jumped him in a hug.

* * *

The party was almost over, and it was getting dark, when it suddenly hit me: I hadn't seen Kurt.

"Um, Professor? Where's Kurt?"

"He asked me to give you this." And, giving me an envelope, he rolled away.

I quickly opened it, and pulled out a card. On the outside, it just said "Happy Birthday." Inside, though, it said, "Meet me on the roof."

Just that, nothing else.

I stared at that card for a long time. Then I set it down and pulled out my Nightcrawler token, pushing it into my glove. "Well, let's see what he's got to say."

A puff of smoke later, I was on the roof, and there he was, just sitting there staring out like some kind of gargoyle.

"Hey there, Blue." I shoved the token back into my pocket and sat down next to him.

"Hey."

"What's up? Besides us."

He sat quiet for a long minute. Then he finally spoke. "I wanted to get you a present for today, I really did."

"Hey, it's not that big a deal."

"But it is!" Gesturing around, he turned to look at me. "_Ich liebe dich, Honig_, but what can I give you that you haven't already received?"

I stared at him, hooked on his first words. _Did that translate to what I think it translated to?_ It took a few minutes to get around to the end of his sentence. I thought about that. Then I turned my attention back to him and answered.

"A boyfriend?"

Then it was his turn to stare at me. "You wouldn't mind…" he waved at his furry face, "kissing…this?"

I grinned a little, thinking just how far out of my comfort zone I was going to act, and retorted, "I've done it before." Then I leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

That went on for a couple minutes, especially once he started kissing me back – neither of us had that much experience, but it was amazing all the same.

"Mmm," I heard Kurt mumble just before I had to come up for air.

"You like?" I whispered, not even trying to keep the slight blush off my face.

"You're as sweet as your name suggests." Then he took me into his arms.

* * *

**The two started kissing again under the stars, with Honey sitting in Kurt's lap, his tail wrapped around her leg and his arms around her shoulders. Then there was a puff of smoke, the stench of brimstone, and the two lovebirds were…somewhere else.**

* * *

_**A/N: Where did they go? Who cares? I'm leaving that to the readers to guess. And, what Kurt said in German? It translates to, if anyone doesn't already know or guess, "I love you."**_


End file.
